Long-term mitigating effects of bicycles on Child Marriage, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Last registered on March 13, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Long-term mitigating effects of bicycles on Child Marriage, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011077
Initial registration date
March 12, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 13, 2023, 3:34 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
J-PAL Europe, RWI

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Technical University of Munich
PI Affiliation
University of Connecticut
PI Affiliation
Northeastern University

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-08-01
End date
2022-10-28
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
UNESCO estimates that 11 million girls did not return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic closures. This not only threatens their future perspectives but also puts them at risk of unplanned pregnancies, early marriage, and violence. A valuable asset that empowers girls and facilitates their transport to school like a bicycle ([1 ]) might mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19, encourage girls to go back to school and minimize harmful effects on their health and wellbeing. We evaluate the long-term impacts of an in-kind transfer, a bicycle, received by students in rural Zambia in 2017, on girls’ economic and social empowerment. We further assess how receipt of a bicycle alleviates the detrimental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on school dropout, teenage pregnancies, early marriages, and gender-based violence. Using the random allocation of schools to receive bicycles in 2017 or not, we survey girls that were enrolled back then. We hypothesize that the pandemic has significantly increased girls’ likelihood to have dropped out of school, to have suffered violence, to have been married, and to be pregnant, but that receipt of the in-kind transfer in 2017 cushions against these negative impacts.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fiala, Nathan et al. 2023. "Long-term mitigating effects of bicycles on Child Marriage, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic." AEA RCT Registry. March 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11077-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention was implemented in 2017 by World Bicycle Relief in 99 schools in Kalomo, Mazabuka, and Monze, Zambia.

The Bicycle for Empowerment and Education Program (BEEP) provides bicycles to students that live far from school at the condition of attending school regularly. The families pay small payments to finance spare parts for repairing the bikes. A Committee formed by students, teachers, and community members ensures the program rules are followed. The program aims to reduce distance costs for students to go to school and, in the long term, facilitate education completion. There is a focus on providing 70% of the available bicycles to female students. The schools were randomly allocated to control group (did not receive any intervention), or treatment BEEP.

This study recruits a new sample of girls from catchment areas of the same 99 schools enrolled in the original RCT. We do not link our data with the previously collected data from the IPA study, since the local IRB did not permit transferring personally identifying information.
Intervention Start Date
2017-08-07
Intervention End Date
2017-12-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Main outcomes: Educational attainment, Early marriage, Pregnancy, Violence
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Information in the PAP

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes: Empowerment, Income generation, Harassment
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Information in the PAP

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See PAP for more details
Experimental Design Details
See PAP for more details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer. See more details in PAP
Randomization Unit
Randomization done by a computer. See more details in PAP
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
99 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
1615 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
44 schools, eligible students received a bicycle from WBR (treatment arm). In 55 schools, students did not receive a bicycle (control arm).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
See PAP for more details
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
National Health Research Authority in Zambia
IRB Approval Date
2022-06-27
IRB Approval Number
NHRA000001/27/ 06/2022
IRB Name
Technical University of Munich
IRB Approval Date
2021-12-15
IRB Approval Number
88/21-S-SR
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials